#CoB Rewatch!

[takaraphoenix]

Now that I finished the movie! Have a bit of a conclusion on it:

Yes, the movie does hold up. Both, in comparison and in general. I really enjoy it still. I love the things they kept from the book and most things they changed.

It’s obvious why I forgot Isabelle, because aside from having the Average Fantasy Protagonist actress cast for her, Isabelle has barely anything to do in this movie, she has no actual personality developed for herself, no dynamic between her or anyone is properly established, though she at least does get to interact with Simon already, I guess.

I think my mind blended Alec and Simon into one character, because there is barely any Alec in it, so I think my mind took the “Alec is in love with Jace” and Simon’s interactions with Jace and turned both those Brunette White Boys into one character in my mind.

I also know why I forgot Magnus. He was in less than five minutes of the movie and the actor was... not good. His line-delivery was really bland and the fact that the writing reduced him to an exposition machine didn’t do him any favors either. So, in terms of Magnus, the show definitely wins.

Another disappointment was Valentine, who... was so bad. They completely reduced him to a violent bastard, removing all complexity and nuance and all those intriguing mindgames from the character. That’s just sad, to be honest.

Now that we got the bad things outta the way!

CLARY. I LOVE CLARY. Oh gods, after three seasons of the show and one book, it feels so nice to love Clary again. Sure, show!Clary slowly gets better over the course of the seasons but... she never actually reached the point of me 100% liking her, I just generally don’t mind her and like her for the sake of how the other characters feel about her. But movie!Clary? Oh, I love movie!Clary, I love her so much, I wish this was the Clary I could have gotten to see through the entire series, be that in proper adaptations or in the books.

Same goes for Clace! I really, really liked their dynamic in this movie?

And sure, many things felt a little rushed, but it’s a two hour movie cramming hundreds of pages in so that’s a given really. For what they had to work with, they really did well, in my opinion!

[takaraphoenix]

...Clary went back home and cleaned up. How nice.

Seriously, this is one of the things that really bother me about the show?? Like, Clary immediately moved into the Institute. Instead of returning home. With her mom, after she wakes up.

Nope, gotta move in with those total strangers I’ve known a couple days now.

That Clary and Jocelyn just flat-out abandoned their apartment and all the things in it was incredibly... stupid and weird and why. It really wasn’t destroyed that badly. *snorts*

[takaraphoenix]

HOLY SHIIIT.

Movie!Valentine wastes no time pretending to be Dad Of The Year and be clever with words and a manipulator, he just immediately starts smacking around his kids. Both of them. Brutally.

What the actual fuck.

Part of what makes Valentine such an interesting villain to me, both in books and show, is how he is a suave manipulator who fights with words. Sure, sure, let’s not forget the child abuse he committed and all, but even that had also always worked due to his manipulative personality, making Jace believe that love destroys.

Movie!Valentine takes no time at all to be manipulative... if you don’t do his bidding within two seconds flat, he’ll just smash your head into the table, Clary.

That’s... disappointing.

[takaraphoenix]

...Serious question here: Because between the wooden JC box, Izzy’s necklace and the Seraph-blades... did the show just buy the props from the movie and reuse them...? Because... that shit looks identical to me??

[takaraphoenix]

Alaric: We have to go. Luke needs us.

Wolf #2: Where are we headed?

Alaric: The Institute.

Wolf #2: We’d be breaking the Accords!

Alaric: Not when we stay human.

Me: ...I don’t think that’s how that works, Ric. Also, you know, that whole Accords thing, woulda been cool if you’d explain it too, huh?? Also fucking LOL the werewolves are literally a biker-gang. Wtf.

[takaraphoenix]

It’s interesting how the movie very carefully framed everything to remove any angle of incest though.

First, they don’t have any mentions of the Lightwoods ever actually taking Jace in and raising him, they very adamantly portray them as only friends and have Izzy call Jace out on endangering his “best friend” (...they also haven’t mentioned the parabatai bond at all). Just to make sure no one goes “but why would Alec be in love with the boy he grew up with like brothers!!!”.

And then they have Hodge give Valentine the idea to lie to Clary and Jace and tell them that they’re both Valentine’s children, to immediately assure the viewers that there are no chances of this being incest at all, right from the get-go.

This is... interesting.

[takaraphoenix]

Okay but... between Jace, Jocelyn, Valentine, Hodge... all Shadowhunters are British, huh? Like. Huh. They do realize Idris is literally located between France, Germany and Switzerland, right? Like, any of those accents would make a hundred times more sense than British.

Newsflash: England is, in fact, not the only country in Europe!

[takaraphoenix]

Damn. Clary essentially going “Race purity leads to the Third Reich. This is how you get the Third Reich, dad” in Valentine’s face is... damn, girl.

[takaraphoenix]

...I... I think that part of the reason why I got into Shadowhunters was... actually... Clace.

This is scary, but I genuinely like movie!Clace. I think that actually did play into me buying the books, because after Twilight and Hunger Games and so many others where the main pairing is just cringey and I don’t care for the female lead because she’s so bland...

I love movie!Clary. She definitely is the superior Clary.

Show!Clary is a whiny entitled brat for all of season 1.

Book!Clary is an entitled little bitch for all of the first book.

But movie!Clary is actually... she is kind, clever, nice, I really like her. And she and movie!Jace actually have chemistry and I like the way they work together? They adapted enough of the original dialogue from the book, but by removing Clary’s self-centered entitlement, they actually make it work.

Me, liking the main character and not being annoyed or disturbed by the main pairing, that was why, after only one movie, I immediately went to a book-store and bought the first three books.

Man, would I have been fucking furious if I had read the book immediately after just to see what a jealous, mean character Clary really was in that... They cut all the nastiness toward Isabelle out, they make her not treat Simon like a lap-dog who had to do her bidding, they didn’t make her keep all options open for herself, they just... like a good person??

Watch me currently wishing we had gotten all books adapted because damn, I miss loving Clary. Seriously, I remembered that me immediately loving the main character was what got me into this, but now that I have the comparisons of other Clary-versions, that’s... just making me sad...

Also the fact that Clace can actually work for me. Huh. Color me shocked.

(Also YES they included the garden scene! But, you know, made it so I squeed at the cute romance and got to be in awe at the flowers! Damn! *^*)

[takaraphoenix]

...Mmmmh... I don’t know. I think the show wins on portals. Because uh that giant-ass heavy vault you gotta unlock and all? Magnus’ little magic tricks on the show seem far more efficient.

[takaraphoenix]

Bach was a Shadowhunter and his music exposes demons. I... oh. This is precious nonsense. Love it.

[takaraphoenix]

Simon, after having been abducted by vampires and while already being in the know about the Shadow World and the existence of vampires: Huuuh. How weird. I don’t seem to need my glasses anymore?? Very odd. Such a coincident.

Me: Daaamn. This is stupid. Seriously, how do you not conclude “Holy shit I got turned!” immediately. You’re the nerd and you already got your calm explanation of the supernatural.

[takaraphoenix]

Ooooh. Okay. This movie one-ups both the book and the show in the Simon arc by framing it around “they want the cup!” instead of “LOL we just kept him because I dunno the author needed filler material in the book I guess??” or... ooof do not get me started on how incredibly dumb and stupid Simon getting turned into a vampire this early in the show and how incredibly bad Camille’s characterization around that was.

So like, yeah, “vampires want the cup from the Shadowhunters”, okay sure, it’s at least A Reasoning.

[takaraphoenix]

THEY AT LEAST INCLUDED MY THIRD FAVORITE PART FROM THE BOOK! (After the two Jagnus scenes, ya know)

They kept the conversation about religion! I found that so incredibly interesting in the book and so very important and all and any actual explanation about how the world works comes so short in the show.

Even a two hour movie finds the time to explain the damn mythology.

[takaraphoenix]

HOLY SHIT.

And I thought the show was rushing the Ma/ec but daaamn. Magnus Bane enters the scene, barely walks toward the Shadowhunters and immediately hits on Alec for his eye-color, that, from that distance and in that lighting, Magnus not in a billion years could have been able to make out.

At least the book waited with the blue-eye comment and the flirting until after Magnus and Alec...exchanged words for the first time and saw each other for like one full conversation and not just 2 seconds flat? Damn.

[takaraphoenix]

...No offense to the guy, but Magnus’ actor is literally just rattling down the dialogue. There is no emotion, there is no pacing, he is just spouting exposition. Even the damn “Your father was a soldier not actually your father Jocelyn made that up” like... damn...

I prefer me my Harry a lot.